5.  The applicant was born in 1958 and lives in Baku.
6.  The applicant is a practising Muslim and attended a mosque, where he met A. Subsequently, A. was arrested by officers of the Ministry of National Security (“the MNS”) on suspicion of having had contact with Al-Qaeda in the past and being the leader of a group planning to carry out terrorist acts in Azerbaijan. The authorities considered the group to be religious fundamentalists (referred to as “adherents of Wahhabism”).
7.  On 7 September 2004 the applicant was also arrested by the MNS officers, on suspicion of being associated with that group.
8.  A search of his place of residence, carried out on the same day, did not reveal any incriminating evidence. However, a hand grenade was found in the flat of the applicant’s wife, which the MNS officers had also searched.
9.  The applicant was charged with illegal possession of a weapon under Article 228.1 of the Criminal Code. In addition to the applicant, the criminal proceedings involved five other accused (including A.), all of whom were charged with more serious offences than the applicant. Four of them were charged with complicity in the preparation of terrorist acts.
10.  On 10 September 2004 the applicant was brought before a judge, who ordered his detention pending trial.
11.  The applicant was tried by the Assize Court, together with the other five accused. The trial was closed to the public. According to the applicant, before the Assize Court he argued that the hand grenade did not belong to him and that it had been “planted” in his wife’s flat by the MNS officers who, having tricked his wife, had gained access to the flat about 30 minutes before she, the applicant himself, and two passers-by who had been asked to witness the search, entered the flat.
12.  On 7 February 2005 the Assize Court convicted the applicant of illegal possession of a weapon and sentenced him to three years’ imprisonment. The other accused were convicted of more serious criminal offences (terrorist activities) and received longer prison sentences, ranging from five to fourteen years’ imprisonment.
13.  On 18 February 2005 the applicant lodged an appeal against the judgment, requesting the Court of Appeal to quash the judgment in the part concerning him and to terminate the criminal case against him. He reiterated his allegations that the hand grenade had not belonged to him, that the case file did not contain any other evidence against him, and that he had not committed the criminal offence for which he had been convicted. He argued that, in circumstances where the discovery of the hand grenade in his wife’s flat was essentially the only incriminating evidence against him, the trial court had failed to take into account the unlawful manner in which the search had been conducted and to properly assess the admissibility and reliability of the evidence obtained as a result of the search. He also noted that the first-instance court had applied the most severe sentence provided for in Article 228.1 of the Criminal Code and had not taken into account his personal circumstances when imposing the sentence, such as, inter alia, the fact that he had to provide and care for his aged and ailing mother.
14.  Some of the other defendants also lodged appeals.
15.  At a preliminary hearing on 22 March 2005, held in the presence of the public prosecutor but in the absence of the defendants and their lawyers, the Court of Appeal fixed the date of the hearing on the merits for 29 March 2005 and decided that only the public prosecutor and the defendants’ lawyers should be invited to that hearing. The Court of Appeal’s decision was silent as to whether the defendants or their lawyers had been informed of the time and place of the preliminary hearing (see paragraph 23 below). It was also silent as to whether the hearing on the merits would be held with or without a “court investigation” (see paragraph 24 below).
16.  On 29 March 2005 the Court of Appeal examined the appeals lodged by all six defendants, including the applicant. The court examined the appeals “without a court investigation”, that is, without a full rehearing of the case (see paragraph 25 below for an explanation of the differences in appellate proceedings conducted with and without a “court investigation”). According to the applicant, the Court of Appeal hearing lasted between ten and twenty minutes. According to the minutes of the hearing, the applicant was absent but the applicant’s lawyer and the public prosecutor were present. On the same day the Court of Appeal upheld the Assize Court’s judgment of 7 February 2005. The Court of Appeal’s judgment was largely a word-for-word copy of the judgment of 7 February 2005.
17.  On 5 August 2005 the applicant lodged a cassation appeal with the Supreme Court. He claimed, inter alia, that his absence from the Court of Appeal’s hearing had breached his rights under the domestic law. The Supreme Court examined the applicant’s cassation appeal separately and, on 29 November 2005, upheld the lower courts’ judgments. The Supreme Court’s decision was silent on the applicant’s complaint about his absence from the hearing before the Court of Appeal. At the Supreme Court hearing the applicant was represented by his lawyer but was not present personally.